Luminous dial or indicator



July 21, 1925. Y 1,546,557

A. V. SMiTH LUMINOUS DIAL 0R INDICATOR Filedpct. 26, 1925 2 SheetsShaet1 llllllllllllllllll Q g 1 K INVENTOR AJIS'mLZb ATTORNEYS July 21, 1925.1,546,557

' A. V. SMITH LUMINOUS DIAL OR INDICATOR Filed Oct. 26, 1923 2Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESSES 5 V IN VENTOR N A. FSMJJZ),

ATTORNEYS Patented July 21, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW VAN SMITH, 01! LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS; OLLIE :IANCLIVE SMITHADMIN- ISTRATRIX OF SAID ANDREW VAN SMITH, DECEASED.

, LUMINOUS mm. on n'mrca'ron.

Application filed October 28, 19133. Serial No. 671,038.

"To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW V. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Little Rock, in the county of Pulaski and State ofArkansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in LuminousDials or Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates in general to luminous dials or indicators and isespecially designed and adapted for use on automatic telephones althoughit possesses a general utility and may be used to advantage in many andvarious arts.

The object of the invention is to provide a dial of this type whereinthe characters of the dial are composed in part at least of luminouspaint so as to be visible at night or in dark places and are protectedso as to admit of manipulation of the dial Without liability ofimpairing the luminous quality of the characters.

Another object is to provide a dial having the foregoing advantages andcapacities and 535 which is also of extremely simple though durableconstruction and which is adapted to be readily manufactured at acomparatively slight expense from materials and by means of facilitiesordinarily available.

A still further object is to provide a dial of this character which maybe placed or superimposed on the ordinary dial of the automatictelephone or which may take the place of this ordinary dial after thelatter has been removed.

Other objects and advantages of the invention reside in certain novelfeatures of the construction, combination and arrangement of parts whichwill be hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out inthe appended claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawingsforming part of this specification, and in which:

Figure 1 is a view, partly in diametrical section and partly in sideelevation, and showing the preferred embodiment :of the inventionapplied to the selective switch of an automatic telephone; 7

Figure 2 is a view of the selective switch and luminous dial in frontelevation with parts broken away for the sake of illustration;

Figure 3 is a view in elevation of the luminous dial detached from theswitch;

ill

Figure 4 is a view in section, on line 44 of Figure 3;.

Figure 5 .is a detail perspective view, showmg how the ordinary clip ofa selective switch is modified for holding the luminous dial inposition;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary view in elegation, showing a slightly modifiedform of Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 1 but showing a modifiedform of the invention;

Figure 8 is a group view in perspective, showing the elements of theconstruction of Figure 7 prior to assembly;

Figure 9 is a fragmentary view, in section, illustrating one form ofcarrier plate which may be employed with the construction of igure anFigure 10 is a view similar to Figure 9 but showing a modified form ofcarrier plate. Beferring'to the drawings it will be seen that bothembodiments of the invention are shown applied to and organized with theselective .switch of an automatic telephone which isdesignated generallyat S. The details'of construction of the selective switch are well knownto those skilled in the art and need no detail disclosure in thisapplication. For a disclosure of the detalls of such a switch, referenceis made to the patent to Dobbin, et al. No. 1,390,679, Sept.

13, 1921, and the patent to Forsberg, No.

1,161,854, Nov. 30, 1915. For the purposes of the present invention itis suflicient to understand that'such selective switches include ahousing 1 in which a supporting plate 14 is mounted and secured. On thesupporting plate 14 a number plate 15 is arranged. This number plate 15consists of a disk of copper coated with white enamel and having blacknumerals and letters applied thereto. The coating of the number plate 15is designated at 47. In order to K hold the plate 15 against turningmovement on the supporting plate 14 pins 33 are rovided on the plate 15and are receive in apertures 31 and 32 provided in the supporting plate.A retaining ring designated at 16 is provided for holding the numberplate against axial displacement, and for this purpose the retainingring is provided with a number of spring fingers 34 which engage thesupporting plate I and a collar 46 on the number plate to hold to 6,inclusive, the selective switch structure above described is left intactand is unchanged except to certain additions to the clips or retainingrings 16 which will be hereinafter specifically described. a

The luminous dial which constitutes an important feature of the presentinvention is I designated generally at 2 and is superim-.

posed on the ordinary dial constituted by the number plate 15 with itscoating 47. This luminous dial includes an annular carrier late 3constructed of any suitable materia such as paper, 'fibre or the likeand having on one face a series of recesses. These recesses may have theform and contour of'the-characters or numbers as shown in Figures 3 and4 and designated by the numeral '4. In the'recesses 4 the luminouscharacters are arranged and are entirely contained in the recesses.Preferably these characters, which are designatedat 5 in Figure 4 arecomposed in part at least of luminous paint. If desired the recessesformed in the carrier plate may all be of circular form as indicated at6 in Figure 6 and if this construction is used the luminous charactersdesignated at 7 are mounted on a small disk .8 which is received in therecess 6. As before, the recess is made sufliciently large or deep toentirely contain the luminous character as well as the disk on which itis mounted. An annular protective plate" 9 which is preferablyconstituted of celluloid or other suitable transparent substance isdisposed on the carrier plate 3 to cover the recesses thereof and toprotect the luminous characters. Preferably the rerecesses in thecharacter plate in which the luminous characters are contained are ofsuch depth that a space or clearance 10 (see Figure 4) is providedbetween the characters and the portions of the protective plate whichoverlie the characters and cover the recesses. The protective plate issecured to the carrier plate by eyelets 11 as shown in Figure 3 orit'may be cemented or secured to the character plate by an adhesive.

In assembling the luminous dial 2 with the selective switch it isnecessary to first remove the finger hold 12. The dial 2 is thensuperimposed on the ordinary dial of the .switch and may be cemented orotherwise suitably secured to this ordinary dial. In order to preventthe luminous dial from rotating relative to the housing 1 and to theordinary dial the carrier plate 3 and the protective plate 9 areprovided with notched lugs 13 on their peripheries. These notched lugsof tlie plates are alined in assembly; and receive a portion of thefinger hoo 59. After the luminous dial has been assembled as abovedescribed the finger hold 12 is of with the selective switches now inuse may be equipped with additional fingers 17 on its outer peripheraledge, these' fingers 17 being deflected outwardly and being adapted toengage the inner peripheral portion of the protective plate 90f theluminous dial as .shown inFigure 1., Of course it is to be understoodthat when the fingers 17 are used it is necessary before assembling. theluminous dial with the selective switch to remove the retaining ring '16as well as the finger hold 12 and to substitute for the ordin'ary clipor retaining ring' 16 one which is equipped or provided with the fingers17 as shown in Figure 5.

In lieu of superimposing the luminous dial on the ordinary dial as abovedescribed and as shown in Figures 1 to 6, the ordinary dial constitutedby the number plate 15 with its coating 47 may be removed and in lieuthereof the arrangement shown in Figures 7 to 10 and now to be describedmay be substituted therefor. As shown in Figures 7 and 8 a number plate18 is provided but this number plate may be constituted of paper, fibreor tin. The number plate 18 is of annular form and may have a series of.circular recesses 19 (see Figure 10) in which small circular plate 20are arranged, the plates 20 carryingnumerals or characters 21 which arecomposed of luminous paint or coatings of luminous paint applied tocharacters constituted of other substances, or the number plate 18 mayhave a recess or recesses 22 which are of such form as to define thenumbers or characters and which contain a body of luminous paintdesignated at 23 and constituting the luminous characters. In eitherevent a spacing plate 24 is provided and is constituted of paper, fibreor the like cut or otherwise shaped to annular form and having a seriesof circular openings 25 overlying each of the characters of the numberplate 18 in the assembly. An annular protective disk 26 constituted ofcolluloid or other transparent substance is arranged next to the spacingdisk 24. By virture of the provision of the spacing disk 24 and of theformation of the opening 25 therein, the luminous characters are spacedfrom and do not come into contact with any of the structure of the dial.Thus the plates while protected by the transparc:

disk 26 are not touched by this disk. An annular metallic disk or plate27 rests on the transparent disk 26 and isprovided with a series ofcircular openings 23 through which the numerals or characters of theplate 18 may be viewed. This metallic plate 27 is provided with a collar29 which corresponds in function to the collar 46 of the number plate ofthe conventional selective clip in that it coacts with the retainingring 16 for the purpose of holding the elements of the luminous dial upagainst the supporting plate 14. With this form of the invention theidentical retaining ring 16 employed on the conventional switch is usedfor holding the parts of the luminous dial in position up against thesupporting plate, and this retaining ring 16 has as usual spring fingers34 reacting with the inner periphery of the supporting plate 14 incarrying out its securing function. In order to hold the parts of theluminous dial against relative rotation pins 35 are provided on theplate 27 and extend through alined openings provided therefor in theplates 14, and 26.

I claim:

A luminous dial for use with the selective switches of automatictelephones including a housing, an ordinary dial in the housing and afinger hook, said luminous dial being superimposed on the ordinary dialand comprising an annular carrier plate having recesses therein, saidcarrier plate having luminous characters disposed and entirely containedwithin the carrier plate and an annular transparent protectin platefixedly secured to the carrier plate an covering said recesses, saidplate having notched lugs embracing the finger hook for holding theluminous dial against rotation, and means for holding the luminous dialagainst accidental movement and comprising a grip mounted on theselective switch and having outwardly deflected fingers engageable withthe protective plate to hold the luminous dial assembly up against theordinary dial.

ANDREW VAN SMITH.

